Secrets of adulthood… revealed!

Hey folks, I’m back online. Did you miss me? (Given the way traffic to the site has been falling steadily over the past year, I doubt you did!) I wasn’t too far away these past few days; I just went and got hitched, is all. I’ve now come to realize why people get fat after they get married: Apparently you eat like a pig to celebrate. I couldn’t begin to guess how many calories I’ve consumed in the past few days… and, annoyingly, it’ll be a while before I can burn them off. I threw my back out Sunday while doing some household chores, and the resultant excruciating agony means I won’t be hitting the elliptical trainer any time soon. So I guess I’ll just have to live with the physical evidence of our gluttony for a while.

Ah, but what gluttony. I’ve eaten some magnificent food this weekend, and while the crazy-expensive place we ate after the ceremony was exquisite, dollar-for-dollar the best place we’ve been was definitely a new-ish Vietnamese sandwich shop called Bun Mee. I’ve been seeing this place praised to the rafters for the past week or two at every turn, and much to my surprise it actually lives up to every inch of its hype. Six bucks nets you what is possibly the best banh mi I’ve ever eaten; yes, yes, banh mi should be about half that expensive, but the added cost is not frivolous. I mean, look at this:

Here we have two halves of different sandwiches. On the left is a braised pork belly sandwich with amazingly tender and flavorful meat; on the right is the infamous Bun Mee specialty, which is basically a sloppy joe (ground beef in curry sauce topped with a fried egg) in banh mi form. It is so good. So, so good. The ingredients are fresh, the bread is perfect (tender inside, crisp and flaky outside), and despite using decidedly non-traditional components they still manage to taste authentically Vietnamese. They’re unique, but they still get the flavors right. Really great stuff.

Ignore the pile of purple onions; I hate onions and have always been that person who fastidiously picks them out of his food.

Seriously, though, Bun Mee deserves all the praise it’s received, and anyone visiting San Francisco should be obligated to grab a bite there. It’s a cheap lunch, but maaaan is it good. Oh, and to be all authentic and San Francisco-y, we topped off our lunch with sundaes from Ghiarardelli Square. I’ve accompanied people to Ghirardelli but have always forgone actually getting my own dessert as a concession to calorie-counting. But I figured if you can’t cut loose on a weekend like this, when can you cut loose? I was immediately filled with regret when I witnessed the monstrosity of a milkshake I had unleashed:

It was really great, though. I mean, it’s basically a malt combined with a sundae, so big ol’ globs of fudge get sucked up the straw as you drink.

Also, I didn’t realize until just now that my doctor-prescribed transitional lenses combined with the hat and jacket Cat picked out for me over the past few days make me look like a blind jazz musician. Man, I wish I were that cool.

I’d photoblog more, but in looking over my images from the past few days, it turns out most of the pictures I’ve taken have been of food. I guess I’m filing this one under BakesSpite, then.

35 thoughts on “Secrets of adulthood… revealed!”

  1. Congratulations on getting married and eating a rad sandwich. I’ve never eaten Vietnamese food, is it spicy?

    • It isn’t usually very spicy. Banh mi usually has jalapeño slices, but those can be left off. In most Vietnamese food, though, spice is a discretionary thing, and Sriracha is a standard condiment.

  2. Congrats on getting hitched! Sad to see traffic to the site has been dropping, any theories?

    Those sandwiches look delicious…

  3. I have a Ghiarardelli story: when I visited San Francisco, I stopped by and eventually selected a fancy milkshake for them to make, but only afterwards did I actually bother to look at the menu, where I saw they had spiders (ice-cream floats). I was filled with a sudden regret, and it did not help that the milkshake was a lot sweeter and syrupy than I’d been hoping. Oh well, I thought as I trudged up Hyde St, mostly to say that I’d trudged UP Hyde St, at least I’d done the touristy thing. But I couldn’t get that float out of my head.

    Shivam took me out to a locavore ice creamery that night, and I saw my chance. I assessed the situation (massive queue for the restaurant, no-one at the ice-creamery counter), and asked the bored-looking tattooed girl on ice-cream duties if she could make me an ice-cream float. She admitted that no-one had asked her for one of those and she didn’t know if she had a cup, but she realised she DID have a pint container that’d do for a cup in a pinch. One bottle of Coke (though search me why a locavore ice-creamery sells Coke, I’d imagine because they’re realistic) + one scoop of vanilla ice cream = one pint of ice-cream overflowing with bubbles. At this point, a sizable queue had formed up behind us, so I turned to them, apologised for buying something awesome, and headed off with Shivam and his ladyfan with a massive grin on my face.

    And that’s the story of the Ghiarardelli ice-cream float.

  4. Congratulations!

    Up until a year ago, the idea of a Vietnamese sub would have baffled my culturally narrow mind. But that one in the picture looks about twice as delicious as my favorite joint in Alberta.

  5. Well congratulations! God bless both of you and your new union, Jeremy. Hope your back feels better soon, too.

    Gah, I’m so happy for you, guys!

  6. What else to say but “Congratulations”! Glad you made it. I remember this heartwrenching post where you complained that you should Be married now but couldn’t afford it. And Boy, does that Banh Mi Look delicious or what? I Hope, I’ll find Some in Washington DC…

  7. Conglaturation!

    I would totally try that Bun Mee if not for the fried egg. I despise eggs.

  8. I’ll add my voice to the others: Congratulations, sir.

    I’m definitely going to have to try this place, should I ever find myself in San Francisco.

  12. Congratulations. I’m glad to see extensive playthroughs of Catherine did not ultimately cripple your belief in love and long-term commitment.

  14. Congrats! Also, I really like the direction that 1up has taken since you got promoted. Good things all around!

  16. Congrats! A winner is both of you, and all that.
    And yeah, that sloppy joe banh mi and malted milkshake both look delicious. Now I’m hungry and it’s not even lunchtime… curses.

  23. Congrats! I myself will be married on Saturday, and I’ll be drinking a milkshake even sooner.

  24. Well, I know I’ve been doing my part to visit this awesome website. Oh and of course — congratulations to the both of you on getting married! :-)

  28. Congratulations! On the marriage, not the sandwich — not that the sandwich doesn’t look pretty awesome.

  29. I am only recently finally had some pho at a newly-opened Chinese/Vietnamese restaurant in my area, so this sandwich concoction is even more mind blowing. Also, while I know you won’t read or respond to this, congrats on the marriage!

  30. Figured that’s what the adult stuff was all about. Condraculations duder, many happy returns.

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